(hums to herself)
Char: (-thinking- Geez, I'll bite.) And just what are YOU so happy about?
Me: We don't have swimpractice tomorrow!
Char: So what...?
Me: So that means I don't have to get up way early, silly!
Char: First of all, call me "silly" again and I'll smear your entrails all over the wall. Second of all, you get up way early anyway.
Me: But it's funner when I spend my morning doing nothing... D:
Char: She really WILL spend tomorrow doing basically nothing, because she finally beat .hack/Infection and killed the Parasite Dragon.
Me: Which was an ENORMOUS ripoff, btw.
Char: Oh yeah, is this the chapter where I lecture those little kids about war?
Me: Yup! (glares at OC haters) NOW is she a Sue?
Char: -.- Don't even get her started.

Disclaimer- Pfft, oh yes. And Skeith lives in my attic.
Skeith: (from inside) GET ME THE HELL OUTTA HERE!
Everyone: o.O

At long last, the sounds of men's voices and multiple footfalls reached the group. Almost at once, Char jolted up from where she had been absently examining a lone piece of grass. "Finally!"

The others got up as well, and gave a hearty salute to Captain Shang. The man nodded in return. "Did you have any trouble?"

"A couple of Heartless here and there, but otherwise everything was great," Sora said, before Char could open her mouth and voice her complaints.

Shang nodded again, this time in approval, a gesture that caused a tiny tinge of red to cover Mulan's cheeks. Donald and Goofy covered their mouths to hide their sniggers at that.

"There's a village not too far from here, just over the side of the slope," Shang went on, ignoring Mulan. "We'll make camp there and plan our next move."

"What about Ping?" asked Donald.

At this, the captain gave Mulan a sideways glance. After a moment, he spoke. "I'll let you join my troops… But I'm still not convinced you have what it takes to be a good soldier."

Char growled under her breath. "What does it take, hm?"

She flinched slightly as the captain turned his dark gaze on her, but otherwise stared defiantly back at him. "I mean, come on. He made his way up the mountain just fine without you babysitting him –"

"Uh, Char, let's just go," Sora muttered, putting a hand over her mouth before she could continue – quite a bold move for the Keybearer. The redhead's eyes glared down at the hand over her mouth, as though she were considering biting it; then she let out a muffled snarl and shoved it away.

Shang just sighed. "Just… don't get into any trouble at the village. There are plenty of men who will do almost anything when they're drunk…"

Char snorted, folding her arms across her chest. "I'd like to see them try."

Meanwhile, Mulan, Donald and Goofy were staring up the mountain, where a visible frost covered the landscape ahead. "It looks like a long walk," Donald murmured.

"C'mon, be a man," Yao growled, clapping the duck on the back so hard that the mage nearly fell over.

Chien-Po coughed lightly. "Yao, in case you haven't noticed, Donald is a duck…" (1)

Shang's mouth twitched in amusement, but his countenance generally remained neutral. "Move!" he called to the soldiers behind him, and without further ado took the lead.

Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po headed to the front of the group in order to bother the captain – under the guise of "asking about battle tactics", of course – while Sora and his companions chose to remain at the rear.

"Man, do we really have to go to the snowier part of the mountain?" Char complained, drawing her arms tight around herself in an attempt to keep warm. "I'm about to freeze as it is!"

"Well, the village is right at the summit," Mulan told her. "So it shouldn't be too long before we get there."

"Tell that to my fingers…" Sora sighed.

Char stared in disbelief at the Keybearer.

The brunette grinned. "What? You have to learn to suppress these things when you're a soldier, y'know?"

"Of course," the girl groused, hunching her shoulders and staring straight ahead with narrowed blue eyes. "Because you guys are such soldiers."

"Aw, don't be that way," Goofy said, cheerful as always. "Pretty soon, we'll all be sittin' around the fire at the village and havin' fun!"

"Right," Donald muttered, who for once seemed to agree with Char. "I'm sure."

A smirk tugged the corners of Char's lips. "So, the great Wizard of Disney Castle concedes the point. Hm. A one-time-only thing, I'm sure."

She blinked at the looks on their faces. "What?"

"How'd you know Donald was the wizard of Disney Castle?" asked Goofy.

Char mentally berated herself for her slip of the tongue. Crap. Crap, crap, crap… Trying to keep her composure, she shrugged. "I overheard you guys talking when we were on our way to the encampment."

The others nodded in understanding, and the redhead let out the breath she'd been holding, mentally praising every deity in existence that Donald and Goofy had been talking about home this morning.

Only Sora looked a bit dubious, raising an eyebrow. Char had to hand it to the boy – he was more perceptive than he looked.

Which still wasn't much.

She groaned when a gust of wind buffeted them all, making her jacket fly back behind her, and tightened her arms around herself. "Damn it… that fire's starting to sound pretty good right about now…"

The trek went on in mostly silence after that. Unless one counted Sora cooing in fascination over the snow – since Destiny Islands was too tropical for the true essence of winter – and Char smacking him over the head for being so loud, with Mulan laughing at the whole thing, the journey was fairly uneventful.

Now the large group of soldiers and women alike stood at the gate of the village Shang had spoken of. Char chanced a look up at the sky and started when she saw how low the sun was, visible even behind the gray clouds. She hadn't realized the journey up and down the mountain would take so long…

The captain spoke, causing all eyes to turn to him. "Make yourselves comfortable, everyone. We'll be staying the night here. You all know the rules: be friendly with the villagers, and whatever happens, do not let anything happen to them."

"Sir!" the soldiers shouted, standing at attention.

Shang nodded and headed toward his own tent nearby, which, Char noted, was a bit larger than the others.

"Finally," Donald muttered, shivering visibly.

While Char had almost never seen snow herself – if the pictures in the textbooks counted, which she doubted – she had never really associated the crystalline substance with fun and games. For a person who had never been around snow before, knew nothing about it except for the cheesy rumors, snow was a thing of wonder and beauty. For those who knew all about it, snow was nothing but a cold, harsh substance that covered the ground when it was really, really cold. (2)

Three guesses which one Char was.

So she wasn't really surprised that the snow and cold made things so uncomfortable out here. However, that didn't mean she had to like it.

She clutched the painfully thin fabric of her jacket around herself, and looked at Mulan, trying to keep her teeth from chattering. "Uh, do you know exactly where we're supposed to go?"

"Just pick a random tent," came a sudden voice. It was Ling, the yellow-armored soldier, who had thrown the comment over his shoulder while talking to one of the villagers. "It doesn't really matter; the captain's already picked his, anyway."

Char blinked in surprise. "Erm, thanks, I guess."

It suddenly occurred to her how much some of the soldiers might enjoy seeing her wet and freezing from the snow, and not necessarily because of the pallor it added to her cheeks. The redhead suppressed a shudder of revulsion at the thought.

Sora nodded with a smile of relief. "Okay, thanks!"

Before the words had even left the brunette's mouth, Donald had already lunged for the nearest tent possible, with Goofy hot on his heels. Mulan laughed a little nervously. "Um… I guess those two haven't learned to suppress themselves very well, have they?"

"Like I said: such little soldiers." Char managed a derisive chuckle, even though the slightest movement sharpened the ache of the cold.

"Finally," Mushu's boisterous voice complained from the shelter of Mulan's pack. "Man, I was startin' to think we'd never get down that stupid mountain."

"It's alright, Mushu," Sora laughed. "I think they've got some blankets in the tent."

"They'd better have some blankets in the tent…" Char muttered, heading inside on half-frozen legs.

To her relief, heap upon heap of thick woolen blankets lay in piles inside; Char supposed that the army figured they had to keep their soldiers warm. She took a step inside and hissed at the crunching noise her shoe made. "Couldn't they have tried to make a better bottom for the tent? I'm not sleeping with that crunching noise every time I have to shift," she complained.

Donald, who was already half-concealed in a collection of blankets and looking very much like a duck-sized turban, gave her a glare that told her to get over it.

"Um…" Mulan shifted uneasily, suddenly awkward.

Sora looked up from where he was collecting his own sheets. "What is it, Mulan?"

"I have to… go somewhere," she murmured.

Char nodded understandingly before any of the guys could cut in and ask what exactly it was. "Be careful out there."

The other woman gave her a grateful look and left the tent. As the flaps were closing behind her, Mushu popped out of her pack in a burst of red and began demanding what exactly she was doing.

Sora laughed softly. "Heh. Mushu hasn't changed a bit."

Char narrowed her eyes. "I'd hate to see what you had to put up with back then…" Even though she already knew, it didn't hurt to lay on a little more of the unknowing, ignorant façade.

Sora shrugged, but it was Goofy who replied. "He joined us a little ways along our last journey. He helped us out a lot."

"Hm," was all Char said in reply. She caught a look of disappointment in Sora's dark blue eyes, and guessed that he'd been looking forward to talking to her a bit more. Well, he'll just have to get over it, she thought roughly.

A scent wafted through the slightly-ajar flaps of the tent, a mouth-watering smell that made Char remember the strenuousness of the journey here. "If you'll excuse me," she muttered, getting to her feet and picking up a blanket, "I'm going to go get something to eat."

She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, inwardly sighing in relief at the warm sense of security that seeped through her, and made as if to leave.

"Hey, wait!"

Char growled under her breath and whirled to face Sora, who was coming up to stand next to her. He himself had a blue blanket wrapped awkwardly around his body. "Sora, do you feel like you have to babysit me or something? Because, news flash, you don't have to."

Sora blinked. "I was just saying I'm hungry, too." He put his hands on his hips and mock-glared at her. "What, Your Highness? Don't I have the privilege to eat and be in your presence?"

At the faked anger on the brunette's countenance, Char felt something tug deep within her. She realized that right now, he reminded her of herself, asking her master something that she knew she didn't have permission to do.

So she relented. "Ah… yes, I suppose you do."

Sora grinned, lifting his hands to adjust the blanket around his shoulders. "Awesome." He glanced over at Donald and Goofy. "Do you guys want us to bring something back for you?"

"Please," Donald grumbled, sinking deeper into the mass of blankets around him. "I'm staying here where it's warm!"

"Aw, Donald, but they've got a fire out there," Goofy pointed out.

"No, that's fine," Sora said, and left the tent before anyone could object.

Char lingered for a bit longer, and her eyes caught the duck's. "What?" she growled, and hastily took her own leave.

Almost as soon as she had gotten outside, the redhead had to put a hand to her mouth to fight back the hunger she could feel rising in the back of her throat. Sora was already there, sitting cross-legged with the hot, steaming bowl of noodles in front of him. Currently he was staring thoughtfully at the pair of chopsticks in his hand. "Now how am I supposed to hold these things?" he murmured.

Char rolled her eyes and changed the subject. "Where'd you get that?"

Sora jerked a little at her sudden appearance, and looked up to meet her gaze. "Over there; Chien-Po's serving them." He pointed with one chopstick at the large, blue-clad man. Chien-Po was surrounded by a group of soldiers and villagers alike, all with empty bowls in their hand and him serving them pasta from a large bowl. Sora laughed under his breath. "I'm surprised he hasn't decided to eat all of it by now."

The redhead nodded brusquely in acknowledgment, despite the tiny part of her that wanted to scream her thanks to the skies for actual food. She realized that she hadn't even eaten breakfast, and couldn't help but mentally berate herself. Char had always been the type of person to be the first one to meals, though she spent much of the time telling herself not to be a glutton.

I'm such a hypocrite, she thought guiltily, slipping to the back of the line. I tell myself not to do things, and yet I do them anyway.

Like listen to Riku. She chuckled softly. That's definitely one mistake I'll never be making again. (3)

While Char was wrapped up in pleasant thoughts of what she would do to Riku once she got her hands on him, something heavy crashed into the side of her leg, nearly knocking her over. She shot to attention at once and glared around for the culprit, fighting the urge to snarl "Who the hell just did that?" and teach whoever confessed a lesson. Not seeing who it was at first, she had to resort to looking down.

A young boy, looking no older than the age of five at the very most, lay on the ground on his back, staring up at her with wide, curious dark eyes. Char narrowed her eyes, and quickly the child scrambled up, the curiosity in his gaze replaced by fear. Nearby, another little boy backed away slowly, looking equally guilty.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" she growled, not caring that most of the villagers and soldiers had turned to stare at her.

"Sorry," the first boy squeaked; but due to his youth it came out sounding more like "sowwy". "Me 'n Yan were just…"

"Just what?" Char repeated, leaning down to meet the boy's frightened eyes. "What could be so important that you can't even look where you're going?"

"W-we were just playing war, miss," the other boy – Yan, Char assumed – said, coming up to stand boldly beside his friend.

One eyebrow went up over an icy blue eye. "Playing war?"

"Yup," Yan chirped, totally disregarding the anger that was etched clearly into every line of Char's face. "We're gonna join the army like our daddies!"

"And make our families proud," the other added, grinning childishly. The fear had vanished from his features, to be replaced by the shining excitement of a child who is talking about his accomplishments of the day.

A sigh escaped Char, billowing out into the cold air in a misty cloud. The redhead squatted down to look at the boys properly. "Boys, do you know what war is?"

Yan scratched his head for a moment, then shrugged. After a moment, his friend shrugged his own bony shoulders.

"It's… not a game." Char had to remember to pick her words carefully; these were just children – they probably didn't yet have the mental capacity to understand the harshness of death and war. "It's not something you can play and then write off as something fun. Yes, you'll bring honor to your family; yes, you'll be heroes. But at what cost?"

She noted that the grins had disappeared from the children's faces.

"You need to keep in mind that you could die out there. If you don't even make it through training, then where's your pride then? It won't matter. You'll be gone; you'll be in everyone's memories, but… still gone." She had to swallow to keep back the emotions that were rising in the back of her throat in solid form. "But if you live, you'll be heroes. You'll make it out, but will your comrades? That's what you have to keep in mind. That's why war can't ever be a simple game."

After a moment, Char took a deep breath, suddenly exhausted from the force of her little speech. With a little twinge of discomfort, she realized the entire village had gone silent, and chanced a look up. Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po were looking at her as though she had grown an extra head, but Shang was nodding thoughtfully from where he was talking to an older man. As for Sora, his eyes were wide, as though he had just seen her for the first time and didn't know what to make of it. She also noticed he had dropped the chopsticks into the snow. (4)

The redhead looked back at the boys. Their eyes were shining. "Uh… what?"

"That…" Yan began, his own eyes dark moons. "That was so cool!" he managed at last.

Char rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Um, well… not really…"

"What's your name?" the other asked. "I'm Ryou," he went on, before Char could say anything.

"Uh… Char." She suddenly remembered her composure, and got to her feet. "I'm Char."

Chien-Po's voice suddenly broke through her surprise. "Come on and get some noodles."

"Oh, yeah… right." Char tossed her hair back over her shoulder, shivering slightly. She headed up to the blue-clad man and took a bowl from one of the women as she went. Char felt the twinge of discomfort again as she felt everyone's eyes on her, but managed to keep her dignity without whirling around and shouting "What?!".

She took about half a bowl of noodles, murmured "thank you" to Chien-Po, and walked back to Sora. As she sat down beside him, she realized that everyone had gone back to what they were doing.

Char chanced a look at Sora and felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. "Uh… sorry about that."

"You feel really strongly about that kind of thing, don't you?" the brunette asked, picking up his chopsticks and wiping them off on his pants.

The redhead lowered her head, suddenly unable to meet his eyes, and took a bit of noodles in her own chopsticks. "Yeah, kinda."

"I didn't know you were good with kids," he went on, his voice taking on a teasing manner.

"I'm not," Char growled through a mouthful of pasta, focused on eating as much as possible. She made a mental note to thank the chef properly later. This was just so, so good…

Something poked her in the side of the ribs, and she managed to turn away from the meal for a moment. Somewhat to her dismay, it was Ryou. "Who's that?" he asked in his young voice, pointing conspicuously at Sora.

"I'm Sora," the brunette said, before Char could speak.

"Hi, Sora," Ryou said, waving in an exaggerated way that made Char hold back a giggle. "Hey, doesn't that mean 'sky'?"

"My mom told me it does, yeah," Sora answered. His voice faltered slightly as he mentioned his mother.

He really misses his home, Char thought, taking another bite of noodles. She couldn't help the sympathy that squeezed her heart at the thought.

Ryou nodded. "My mommy says I'm really smart for knowing that already."

"And why shouldn't you be?" Sora joked.

The little boy's face lit up, and he giggled. "Hey, Char?" he asked the redhead, his voice stumbling slightly over the unfamiliar name.

Great. She looked over at him. "What is it?"

Ryou leaned over and cupped his mouth with one hand, like he was about to tell her a secret. His whisper came out exaggeratedly loud. "Is Sora your boyfriend?"

Both teens started and blushed a little at that; Char practically choked on her mouthful of food and exchanged a frantic glance with Sora. (5)

"Uh, no," she mumbled at last, focusing on her bowl of pasta again. "We just met a couple of days ago, so…"

"Yeah," Sora muttered, rubbing a knuckle across the bridge of his nose sheepishly.

Ryou nodded again. "Oh. It's nice that you guys are friends."

"Ryou!" came a sudden, feminine voice. Char looked toward the source and saw a middle-aged woman with gloved hands on her hips, looking expectantly at the child. Assuming she was his mother, Char saw the similarities – they had the same dark eyes and long hands.

"Oh, my mommy's calling me," the boy said, grinning at both of them. "I'll see ya later, Char!"

"Bye!" Sora called, even as Ryou was scampering over to his mother.

Char watched the woman run her fingers through the little boy's hair as they went into their own house. A few moments of silence passed before she let out the breath she had been holding, and turned back to Sora. "Well. That was… awkward."

"Yeah…" Sora muttered.

The two of them ate in silence after that. Char fought back the heat of embarrassment that was threatening to engulf her; she wanted to sink through the snow and die at what Ryou had said. Perhaps it was because the idea of her and Sora together was so repulsive that her appetite had diminished a little. Yes, she reasoned; that was a possible theory.

But things can change, taunted the voice at the back of her mind. Char frowned at that and focused on finishing off her bowl of noodles.

At the same time, though, she couldn't help but feel a burst of pride. She wasn't exactly the kind of person people idolized, and for a good reason – she was vicious, temperamental, vulgar, and a little paranoid. And she knew it.

But the look on the boys' faces – filled with the glow of shock and admiration – wouldn't get out of her head. She sighed under her breath and slurped up the last bit of noodles.

Standing up was a little awkward because of the cold, but to Char's relief she managed without stumbling. "I'm going to get some pasta for Donald and Goofy," she muttered.

Sora just nodded. "Uh…" He gestured helplessly at his empty bowl.

Char saw the unspoken request in his eyes, and sighed again. "Come on."

Together they headed over to Chien-Po, who was collecting the dishes as well, much to the chagrin of Yao and Ling.

"Man, you don't have to be doing that," Yao was saying, as Sora and Char approached.

"Yeah, those are girl chores," added Ling, saying the word "girl" as though it were some sort of disease.

Char growled under her breath and opened her mouth to speak, but Sora put his arm out to stop her. "Don't," he murmured.

Taking her own empty bowl and used chopsticks, he turned back to the others. "Hey guys," he said, grinning. "Could you get these for us?"

The trio turned to look at the brunette and the redhead.

"Sure," Chien-Po agreed, taking their bowls and chopsticks.

Char smacked her forehead as Yao and Ling began berating their fellow soldier once again. "I swear, some people…"

"Hey, Char," Ling called, just as she and Sora were about to head back to the tent.

Char inclined her head.

"That was a pretty good speech you gave there," the yellow-clad man went on.

"Very true," Chien-Po added.

"It was kinda deep, I guess," Yao muttered.

The redhead blinked. "Uh, thanks."

Seeing that his friend felt too embarrassed to speak, Sora stepped in again. "Can we get a couple of bowls for Donald and Goofy?"

Chien-Po perked up. "Sure. There's only a little bit of pasta left, but I think you'll have enough for your friends."

At that moment, Mulan came staggering back into camp, her arms around herself and rubbing her shoulders with the cold.

"Hey Mu – Ping," Sora quickly amended, raising a hand in greeting. "Where were you? You missed dinner!"

"Sora," Char muttered dangerously.

Mulan flashed them a smile. "It's nothing," she said, voice deepened in her imitation of a man.

"Ping, where were you?" Ling demanded. "You just missed Char giving the best performance ever!"

Mulan gave Char a questioning look.

Char rubbed the back of her neck. "Er, really, it was nothing."

Mulan shrugged, and turned back to the other soldiers to get her own dinner. Chien-Po quickly scooped together a couple of bowls of pasta and handed them to Sora.

The brunette and the redhead trudged back to the tent; Char noticed with an irritated frown that the snow had gotten deeper.

"Geez," she grumbled, lifting her foot clear and shaking it free of the offending white powder.

Before she could say much more, Sora had lifted the tent flap out of the way. "We got food for you guys," he said, smiling.

Donald quickly sprang up and took his; Goofy came more sedately, as though reluctant to leave the warmth of the blankets.

The rest of the night passed fairly uneventfully; Mulan came in after a bit and gathered up her own blankets. Char and Sora refused to look at each other. Even when they were all telling funny stories about their pasts, the two of them basically talked to everyone but each other. This earned a raised eyebrow from Donald and bemused looks from Goofy and Mulan.

The moon rode high in the sky by the time the five of them finally blew out the lantern Mulan had brought in for light. They had already received a couple of angry requests to go to bed from superior soldiers, so the way the group saw it, it was high time they got to sleep.

However, insomnia had chosen to take hold of Char in its dark fingers. The redhead stared up at the top of the tent, somehow unable to close her eyes and actually sleep. She huffed softly under her breath and turned onto her side, curling her fingers tighter around her blankets.

Surprisingly, after the first ten minutes she had realized that her inability to get to sleep tonight had nothing to do with Ryou's off-hand remark, about her and Sora dating. She held back a chuckle at that. Ryou was just a child; how was he supposed to understand how two people of the opposite gender could just be friends, with no repercussions? The boy probably still thought girls had cooties.

And yet… The other thing Ryou had said still haunted her.

Oh. It's good that you guys are friends.

…Friends? Char mused quietly. She wouldn't exactly call it that, but she'd take it.

Could she really call someone she'd only been with for two days her friend? Char couldn't exactly use the "I don't know you" excuse; due to watching his memories with DiZ and Riku, she knew more than she really wanted to about Sora. She knew his mistakes, his inner demons, his exploits with the Keyblade and his friends.

But… it wasn't exactly like she'd been chumming it up with the brunette while he was still asleep. Sometimes she'd go watch him in his pod room, sure, and even complain about something DiZ or Riku had done to annoy her. Sometimes Namine would be there, and the two girls would just stand there in silence, unwilling to break this rare serene moment. (6)

But Sora hadn't exactly had the ability to talk back at the time, to laugh things off and listen like he did now that he was awake.

Char allowed one eyelid to slip shut and the other eye to narrow. Insomnia was not an unfamiliar feeling, but she hated the way it felt now. Once again, she vowed to strangle Riku and demand what exactly he'd been thinking the next time she saw him.

Snap.

The closed eye shot open, and Char sat up, glancing warily outside the tent. Unconsciously her hands splayed out to her sides, fully ready to summon her blades if she had to.

The tent flap had been kept open slightly – why, she didn't know; it wasn't exactly like they didn't get enough air in here. Through the small opening, the redhead caught a glimpse of a tall shadow, moving conspicuously against the white snow and trees.

Char froze. If she didn't know any better, it seemed like the person was heading toward their tent.

She chanced a look over at the others. To her chagrin, they were still asleep, with Donald twitching slightly and mumbling something about someone named Daisy. Char frowned and sighed, the puff of air blowing a piece of her long bangs out of her eyes.

Keeping one eye on the others, Char slowly got to her feet. She silently cursed the snow that threatened to crunch loudly with every move she made, and made a mental note to berate whoever had set up these tents in the morning.

Her grip tightened around one of the swords she felt appear in her hands. If there even was a morning.

Stop it, the voice inside her head commanded. You're just being paranoid. It's probably just someone going out to relieve themselves.

It never hurts to make sure! Char snarled back.

Without any further hesitation, she reached up and whipped the flaps aside.

Upon realizing that nothing had come charging out of the darkness at her, Char relaxed her blades out of their guarding stance and looked around. In the moonlight, she could see no one.

Damn.

She growled irritably and let her swords disappear. Part of the reason she was so annoyed was because there was no one in sight, and yet she was sure she had seen someone out there.

Someone that, she knew, wasn't just one of the soldiers going to relieve himself.

This person had had a feminine-sounding tread – Char could tell the difference easily; men tended to stomp and clomp about like they thought no one in the world could detect them – and the shadow had clearly shown some sort of blade. A long one, with a strangely-shaped end.

It occurred to Char that perhaps this could be a Keyblade, but she brushed it off at once. She knew from research that there were more Keybearers besides Sora, but that just didn't seem plausible.

So the redhead turned and walked back into the tent, settled the blankets around herself once more, and finally fell into the sweet coma of sleep.

Meanwhile, the female brunette huffed in disappointment and allowed her Keyblade to vanish.

She had not been successful this night, it seemed.

Her lips curled back into a smirk, and her green eyes glittered.

But there were always other days. (7)

(1) Lawl. Oh, Chien-Po, you observant pig...

(2) Which basically sums up my feelings about snow.

(3) OH YEAH! You show that dark emo boy who's boss, Char! xD

(4) LMAO AWKWAAAAARD

(5) Awkward x576587684...

(6) Even though they're total opposites, I sort of like playing with the idea of a Char/Namine friendship. They ARE the only females around there, after all, and the last of the sane have to stick together.

(7) -COUGH-ANXCLOF-COUGH- Sorry, windpipe.

So, yeah. I would've posted this sooner, except my dad put the compy on password protect... I'm pushing the curfew as it is.
Char: How sad is that? She's so repressed and cowed that she has to be in bed by 10:30 on a Friday night.
Me: Oh, stfu.
Char: Make me.
Me: THAT can be arranged... (whips out Furbies)
Char: o.O AGH! GET IT AWAY FROM ME!
Furby: Furby loves you!
Char: (long, drawn-out scream)